Community-spirited bank staff working on hospice garden

A team of 20 workers from Santander, which took over the Abbey, Bradford and Bingley and Alliance and Leicester banks planted flowers, trees and shrubs.

They are among 1,000 staff from the Spanish-owned company taking part in the Community Days programme which is being run by the bank nationwide.

Santander's community relations manager Sheralee Morris said: "This is the third year of the Community Days programme and the response from our staff has been fantastic.

"Last year 800 staff took part in various community projects across the country and this year we expect up to 1,000 staff to take part from a range of levels and positions.

"We have received some great feedback from the charities we've worked with in the past and it has been a fabulous opportunity for our staff to try something different." Santander said it was allowing its staff to take paid time out from their day-to-day work so they could "help regenerate the communities in which the bank operates".

It is thought that over 7,500 hours will be given to local charities and community projects like the one carried out yesterday at Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice, in North Anston, near Sheffield.

Santander employees more than 170,000 people around the world and since the takeover of the three British banks operates more than 1,300 high street branches and has around 24 million customers. The company has adopted Cancer Research UK as its charity of the year.